Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Cybersecurity Funding

Security Testing Company NSS Labs Ceases Operations

Austin, Texas-based security product testing company NSS Labs has announced that it ceased operations on October 15, 2020.

“Due to Covid-related impacts, NSS Labs ceased operations on October 15th,” a message on the company’s website reads.

Austin, Texas-based security product testing company NSS Labs has announced that it ceased operations on October 15, 2020.

“Due to Covid-related impacts, NSS Labs ceased operations on October 15th,” a message on the company’s website reads.

On Monday, Jason Brvenik, CEO of NSS Labs, posted the same message on LinkedIn, without providing additional details on the shutdown.

“If you are in need of excellent people that exceed my high standards, please get in touch,” he also said.

Founded in 2007, NSS Labs has been focused on becoming a trusted source on security product research, testing and advisory, providing private organizations, government agencies, services providers, and resellers with information on product effectiveness, performance, and cost.

A year ago, NSS Labs was quietly acquired by Consecutive Inc., a private equity firm, with no specific details on the transaction made public. The deal, Brvenik said earlier this year, was meant to help the company better focus its resources.

Investors reportedly pressured the company into providing a security-as-a-service offering with threat intelligence on exploits. The company had offered a service where organizations were being alerted on active exploits, but it did not get traction.

In 2018, NSS Labs filed an antitrust lawsuit against the antivirus industry: CrowdStrike, Symantec, ESET, the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization (AMTSO), and others.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

HardenStance’s Patrick Donegan noted on Twitter that NSS Labs’ model was broken and that NSS Labs’ demise is not surprising. In a report published earlier this year, he pointed out that trust in the proprietary methods of independent testing companies has been declining and that the numerous lawsuits between vendors and test firms in recent years is proof of that.

NSS Labs raised a total of $27 million in three funding rounds, with participation from LiveOak Venture Partners and Delta-v Capital. In February 2020, NSS Labs announced a revised Endpoint Security Test model and in July it released the results of its 2020 Web Browser Security Test.

SecurityWeek has emailed NSS Labs for a comment on the shutdown and will update the article if a reply arrives.

Related: Testing Firm NSS Labs Declares War on Antivirus Industry

Related: Inside The Competitive Testing Battlefield of Endpoint Security

Related: Why You Need to Put Your Security to the Test

Written By

Ionut Arghire is an international correspondent for SecurityWeek.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Application Security

Cycode, a startup that provides solutions for protecting software source code, emerged from stealth mode on Tuesday with $4.6 million in seed funding.

Cybersecurity Funding

SecurityWeek investigates how political/economic conditions will affect venture capital funding for cybersecurity firms during 2023.

CISO Strategy

SecurityWeek spoke with more than 300 cybersecurity experts to see what is bubbling beneath the surface, and examine how those evolving threats will present...

CISO Conversations

Joanna Burkey, CISO at HP, and Kevin Cross, CISO at Dell, discuss how the role of a CISO is different for a multinational corporation...

CISO Conversations

In this issue of CISO Conversations we talk to two CISOs about solving the CISO/CIO conflict by combining the roles under one person.

CISO Strategy

Security professionals understand the need for resilience in their company’s security posture, but often fail to build their own psychological resilience to stress.

Cyber Insurance

Cyberinsurance and protection firm Boxx Insurance raises $14.4 million in a Series B funding round led by Zurich Insurance.